The authors of this study tried to determine the mechanisms by which two types of psychotherapy help relieve clinical depression in young people: Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) and Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT). To do this, they examined the results of 34 randomized controlled experiments, 27 of which focused on CBT while only 6 examined IPT studies and one included both CBT and IPT. Among their results, they found clear evidence that CBT helps to alleviate depression by reducing negative thinking.
But how does CBT reduce negative thinking? In theory, CBT should reduce negative thinking by improving the person’s problem solving skills and helping them to reframe or change how they think about problems in their lives. But the authors did not find evidence that CBT improved problem solving or reframing. Does this mean that CBT doesn’t work the way we think it does? Or does it mean that we are just not very good at measuring problem solving skill or reframing? Answers to those questions remain for the future. For now, it may be sufficient to know that CBT does reduce negative thinking in young people and thereby helps them to overcome depression.
Continue reading “Cognitive Behavior Therapy Works with Depressed Young People By Reducing Negative Thinking”
Dr Martin Fracker 